SCEMD: Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season using Esri Technology

Charlie Kaufman – GIS Manager

ckaufman@emd.sc.gov

Melissa Potter – Chief of Operations Support

mpotter@emd.sc.gov

• South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) is thecoordinating agency responsible for the statewide emergencymanagement program, and is responsible for coordinating thepreparation for, response to, and recovery from any major disaster inSC.

• The GIS Department falls under the Operations Support Section asit supplies GIS data and maps to all aspects of SCEMD operations.

Introduction

• Hurricane Florence was a powerful hurricane that caused severedamage in the Carolinas in September 2018, primarily as a result offreshwater flooding.

Hurricane Florence

• Florence rapidly intensified inSeptember becoming a Cat 4hurricane.

• Made landfall in NC as a Cat 1storm on Sept 14th.

• When Hurricane Florence threatened and then impacted theCarolinas, SCEMD utilized Esri software in multiple ways.

• Common Operating Picture - Palmetto

• ArcMap / Static Mapping

• Arc Online / Web Apps

Introduction

• Palmetto: SC’s Statewide COP.

• Launched in June of 2017, Florence’s activation saw the largest amount of simultaneous users ~ 1,500.

• Fully customizable application that utilizes Esri’s Web App Builder.

• Integrates all types of data feeds, and allows users situationalawareness of an incident.

• “Mobile First” design allows users to share information on theirmobile devices in the field.

• Available to all State, County , and Local emergency managers.

Common Operating Picture Palmetto

Photo credit: https://www.thestate.com/news/state/south-carolina/article218528480.html

Photo credit: SCEMD

• Examples

Palmetto

• SCEMD at the time had not moved to ArcPro – used Arc10.5.1.

• 36 different ArcMap files were created and updated.

• These files served as the templates for the final 66 GIS maps thatwere published.

• 130 maps were printed from the plotter.

ArcMap

ArcMap

• Examples

ArcMap

• Examples

Photo credit: https://www.thestate.com/news/state/south-carolina/article218123955.html

Photo credit: SCEMD

• SCEMD used Arc Online to create and host several web applications.

• Several of these apps were vital to SCEMD during the HurricaneFlorence response and recovery.

• KnowYour Zone

• Situation Report Dashboard

• Search and Rescue Grid

• Aerial PhotoViewer

Arc Online

• Dashboard / SitRep

• Dashboard / SitRep

• The SC National Guard (SCNG) provided GIS support throughoutthe Hurricane Florence activation.

• SCNG created briefing apps that our Plans section used to briefout on each day.

• SCNG also created an advanced Search and Rescue Gridapplication to assist the National Guard with impacts and damageassessment.

SC National Guard

• As with the past 3 years of natural disasters, Esri’s Disaster ResponseProgram (DRP) provided support.

• Technical – both in house and online.• Project based – ingested outside agency flood models.• Kept me relatively sane!

• Renee Bernstein & Cameron Amrine came to SCEMD during theactivation and were lifesavers!

• THANKYOU!

We Had Help

• SCEMD was activated for a record 33 days, and GIS played a role insupporting all aspects of the activation.

• SCEMD’s GIS department saw requests for all types of GIS outputsfrom interactive web applications to the more traditional static maps.

• The goal of the GIS department is to provide better data to theemergency managers and responders to help them make better plansand decisions.

Summary

Questions??